There’s nothing quite like a good de-clutter is there? The time has come for my (never really updated) plant photos blog to go. However, I do want to keep one post after getting help from other bloggers with it. This post was originally published back in July 2007 and linked to from this blog.
The images below were all taken on a family holiday in North Wales and the Isle of Anglesey. On this holiday I decided to have wild flowers as the topic for my camera. I have to admit I found it fun scanning the verges as we sped by in the car – I wasn’t driving of course 🙂
I was thrilled with my collection of images at the time even though (different camera) many are a bit out of focus – I could barely stand with the strong winds when many were taken! However, I am not a wild flower expert so I invited suggestions from the wild flower enthusiasts to help identify these plants by comments or email. I found that great fun too.
Identification thanks went to Bloggers Celia at Purple Podded Peas and Sara at Farming Friends . There’s a few left without ID’s so if anyone has any suggestions please do add them in a comment, thanks 🙂
C1 – Spear Thistle, C2 – Creeping Thistle,
C3 – Marsh Thistle perhaps?
D1 & D2 – Self Heal – seed head & flower head (Thanks, Celia)
D3 – Red Deadnettle (Thanks, Celia)
E1 – Lesser Trefoil or Black medick ? tricky with only flower (Thanks, Celia)
E2 – Common Centaury & E3 – Ribwort Plantain (Thanks, Celia)
F1 to F3 – Clovers in various stages of growth
G1 & G3 – Any suggestions?
G2 – Himalayan Balsam (Thanks, Celia)
H1 – Herb Robert – a type of wild hardy geranium (Thanks, Celia)
H2 – Common Mallow (Thanks, Celia) H3 – Bell heather
I1 to I3 – Bird’s Foot Trefoil (Thanks, Celia)
J1 – Scarlet Pimpernel? ( Thanks, Celia
J2 – Fox-and-cubs (Philosella aurantiaca) orange hawkweed
J3 – Any suggestions?
K1 – K3 Hawkweed – various forms (Thanks, Sara).
When I photographed these flowers,
I had no idea how varied the petal structures were.
L1 – Hawkweed again (Sara suggests). At the time, I thought
it was a dandelion but on looking again at the original photo
I agreed it could be Hawkweed (Thanks, Sara)
L2 – Perforate St John’s Wort. I thought so (Thanks, Sara)
L3 – Ranunculus but leaves would help to identify whether it is
the creeping buttercup or the lesser spearwort (Thanks, Sara).
I looked again at the original photo and looking at the foliage
I agreed it could be a spearwort – but perhaps the greater one? .
M1 – Cabbage family but need leaves to identify (Thanks, Sara).
This was a very windy shot and all foliage was blurred.
M2 – Lady’s Bedstraw (Thanks, Celia)
M3 – Tormentil, I thought – Sara agreed (Thanks, Sara)
N2 – Soldier beetle & N3 – Ladybird. I also came across
many insects including bees and the occasional mushroom!
O1 – Red Valerian (Thanks, Celia)
O2 – White Cinquefoil (Thanks, Sara)
O3 – Any suggestions?
P1 – Hogweed? (leaves would confirm) (Thanks, Celia)
P2 – Yarrow (Thanks, Celia)
P3 – Bindweed( – large perhaps?
(Bindweed spotted growing twining through plants up a wall)
Q1 – Bramble flowers?
Q2 – Bramble fruits?
Q3 – Dead nettle? If so which one?
R1 – Maidenhair spleenwort (Asplenium trichomanes)
R2 – Barley grass perhaps small low grass
(photo taken at the top of the great Orme in Llandudno).
R3 – Rusty-back fern (Ceterach officinarum) spotted growing in walls.
This has been fun revisiting this posting although I suspect many regular visitors to this blog may have missed it first time round. I hope you enjoy this little look back at some summer flowering wild flowers especially now that our gardens are winding down for the year. Oh yes… and if you can help me with any ID’s that would be great 🙂
Now… wait a minute… I think I have some pkts of wild flower seeds somewhere. Perhaps more house keeping is required there too.
Have you fav wild flowers growing in your garden? Red Campion (introduced by me) is perhaps a little too well settled in my garden and I’m hoping Lady’s smock (the Cuckoo flower) will do the same 😀
This post was written by Shirley at shirls gardenwatch
in connection with this original posting Wild Flowers July 2007
Really like this, Shirl, and am glad you weren't driving when you took the photos! I think O3 might be common mouse ear: flowers.goodpages.co.uk/index.php?page=common-mouse-ear
I love Herb Robert and encourage it in my gardens. Bullfinches love the seeds!
Dave
Yes, I think Daivd is spot on with O3:
Mouse-ear Chickweed
Cerastium fontanum
Celia
And Q3 looks like it could be
White Horehound
Marrubium vulgare
I should resurrect my East Anglian wildflowers & walks blog… need a few more days in a week!
Celia
I love the idea of having a cuckoo flower in the garden. Just the name of it entertains me. It is fun seeing these wild flowers. I don't see many on them over here. I have actually grown valarian in my garden. It didn't stick around for many years.
Big fan of north wales but dont remember seeing any flowers, think I must walk around with my eyes shut lol, great collection.
Missed your original post Shirl so glad that you decided to do a repeat. Ragged Robin made an appearance in my garden this year to my delight. G3 looks like a member of the umbelliferae family but names not coming to mind ….. yet …. 🙂 Will have a think.
Just found your blog. Great photos. Love wildflowers. I've got a wildflower seed giveaway on my blog which you might be interested in. You might also be interested in the charity Plantlife
A great collection / selection of wild flowers. So many are often overlooked. I know I tend to forget to look down to see what is below knee level.
Hello again everyone, sorry to be so late with replies again. Thanks for all your comments 🙂
David, lol… as passenger I did open a window on a few occasions! Ah… thanks for the ID. I’ll update it tomorrow. My eyes are a tad bleary tonight 🙂
Celia, thanks again to you for another confirmation and ID 😀 Yes, it would be interesting to take a look at your wildflower blog 🙂
Lisa, I’m thrilled to have the cuckoo flower. It has childhood memories for me. Ah… I’ve thought about adding Valarian 🙂
Mike, Ah… yes… I’ve been doing that myself. Once you start seeing the wildflowers you’ll find yourself looking more… then you see beetles and grasshoppers to photograph 😀
Anna, glad you enjoyed this. Ah… I’ve thought about adding ragged robin. I love its ruffles. It’s even better when it finds its way as a surprise as you got. Brilliant Ah… I’ll look again at G3 😀
wellywoman, thanks for stopping by! I’ll take a look at your blog soon. Yes, I am familiar with Plantlife. They do great work 🙂
John, thanks and hello again. Yes, you are completely right about looking at feet level. As I said above, once you start looking you can be surprised at what you find 😀
I enjoyed your post with its accompanying photos which are magnificent and I thank you for re-introducing it.
Living in Southern California, Desert Dandelion and Phacelia have been doing rather well in my side yard. I also encourage California poppies to flourish in my front yard and those are our state flowers.